Trying to be an Italian, Key Word: Trying

It's been a little over a week now in the Eternal City and every day I have learned something else to add to the list of things I need to do in order to blend in with the Italians. Well I shouldn't say blending in, that's impossible. I've already been confused with being German on multiple occasions. There are some key things I've observed about the Italians that I need to adapt to pronto if I want to make it out of here alive after four months. The three main things I have observed the Italians do every day: 1) Walk. They walk everywhere. I now understand why they have a siesta and close everything down from 1 to 4. By noon I am already exhausted and want to lay in bed for the rest of the day. Parts of my toes are sore that I didn't know had the possibility. I think I average a rough 5 miles every day. Walking everywhere helps you decide what things you consider are really important and must get done. Sometimes you don't need groceries, the store is too far after walking what feels like a marathon. Which leads to my other observation. 2) Put things off. There is no sense of time here. Things get done when they want them to get done. There is no schedule or deadline. Whatever needs to happen will happen, just not as fast as us Americans are used to. 3) Drink lots of coffee. But not just a cup of a regular cup of coffee whenever they want. There are understood coffee rules which is why I have yet to order a coffee here yet. I'm scared I will order the wrong thing at the wrong time.  When is it okay to have a coffee with milk? When is it okay to sit and have coffee? Who knows because each time you ask an Italian you will get a different answer.

When we finally got the courage to order some coffee at the Vatican we somehow ended up with cups of hot milk...this is going to be harder than I thought.